diff --git a/util/mirror-tarballs b/util/mirror-tarballs
index 8aa4209..2a45c7d 100755
--- a/util/mirror-tarballs
+++ b/util/mirror-tarballs
@@ -448,8 +448,6 @@ if [ "$answer" = "Y" ]; then
     fi
 fi
 
-rm -f *.patch || exit 1
-
 answer=`$root/util/ver-ge "$main_ver" 1.17.8`
 if [ "$answer" = "Y" ]; then
     answer=`$root/util/ver-ge "$main_ver" 1.21.0`
@@ -515,6 +513,8 @@ echo
 cp $root/html/index.html docs/html/ || exit 1
 cp $root/html/50x.html docs/html/ || exit 1
 
+rm -f *.patch || exit 1
+
 cd .. || exit 1
 
 cp $root/patches/nginx-$main_ver-no_pool.patch ./nginx-no_pool.patch || exit 1